Taking Care
by justlook3
Summary: With Flynn and Baird trapped in the past, Jacob Stone tries to take care of the others the best he knows how. And when it comes to Cassandra, comfort takes a surprising turn.
A week had passed since Flynn and Baird had become trapped in the past. Stone was in the Annex kitchenette fixing some food when Ezekiel stormed in, holding a wallet. He slapped it against Stone's chest.

Stone pretended to look outraged. "My wallet? Again Jones?"

Jones rolled his eyes. "Look mate, I know what you're trying to do. Now stop it. You're insulting me."

Stone said nothing, just met the younger man's eyes. For a moment they just stood there, then Ezekiel nodded, the briefest hint of a smile across his face. Stone knew that was the closest to a thank you he'd get.

Jones cleared his throat and then in a voice of clearly forced cheer said, "well I'm off for a Harry Potter marathon. If you want to join me, it's open."

"Yeah, maybe later."

"Your loss, mate." Ezekiel grabbed a bag of chips from the counter and headed off.

Stone looked down at the tray in front of him which contained a turkey sandwich, a banana and a glass of milk. He sighed picking it up and heading off where he knew Cassandra would be.

They'd found the room in the Library months before, before Peru even. A reading nook, with a picture window that showed literally any landscape the reader wanted. He'd often found Cassandra curled up on the padded windowsill with a book, sometimes dreamily staring out at the landscape. Now, he knew that the window would show a view of Wilton House and there would be nothing dreamy about Cassandra's stare.

He found her just like he figured, books and papers spread in front of her, her eyes red from work and probably tears.

"Cassandra? "

"Oh hey, Stone. I found something in one of these books if I could just . . . ."

"Cassie, c'mon, you need to take a break. Eat somethin' okay?"

She met his eyes. "Not when I could be doing something."

"You can't help them if you pass out or end up in the hospital," he said sternly. "Look, I promised Baird . . . ."

"When did you promise Baird anything? You just walked away!"

"That ain't fair, Cassandra."

She turned away from him, biting her lip. He moved some books off the window ledge and sat next to her.

"Baird and I, we've got this connection. She asked me to look after y'all. And . . .look Cassandra, this ain't easy for me either. She means the world to all of us, you know that."

Cassandra couldn't hold back a sniffle. "I know."

"I was this close ta fallin' apart, Cassandra, this close. And I knew I couldn't break down in front of her. She needed me to keep it together or she wouldn't have. That's why I walked away. But I heard what she said to you. Darlin', you gotta live your life for you. No one else."

"But how do I do that, Jacob?" Cassandra's voice was on the verge of tears. "Flynn saved my life. And Baird saved our souls. We can't just leave them."

"I know . . . . He saved my life too, Cassie. He did. You saw what my life was like. I owe him so much. And Baird even more than that. She's my family. But Flynn and Eve? They had each other. And I'm sure they lived a wonderful life together. And us? We've got each other. And we owe it to them to fight the good fight for them."

"Don't!" Cassandra turned to him, raising her fists as the tears started. "Don't talk about them like they're dead!"

"It's 400 years . . . ."

"No!" Cassandra began hitting him in the chest, now sobbing. "They're . . . not . . . dead." Each word punctuated with her fists. He let her hit him, just taking it, slap after slap until she just broke down into tears. She collapsed against him, her sobs breaking his heart all over again. He wrapped his arms around her, but offered her no words of comfort, just a place to cry her heart out.

He had no words to comfort her. He could barely comfort himself. He'd been trying to hold it together for the others, but he couldn't tell of her of how he'd come home and gotten blind drunk the night they'd said goodbye to Baird and Flynn. How he would run or lift weights or sometimes both until he collapsed so he wouldn't lie awake thinking about it. How he kept seeing Baird's eyes begging him to keep it together for all of them. Baird was his big sister, Flynn was his mentor. He didn't want to think of them as dead. But 400 years lie between them. And they were gone.

They were gone.

 _They were gone._

Before he knew it, he was crying alongside Cassandra, knocked sideways by the finality of it all. Like Cassandra, he'd been holding out for a miracle. But reality was reality, if they were going to come back, they would have by now.

He didn't notice that Cassandra's sobs had quieted. She leaned back, out of his embrace, and made a surprised little sound.

"Jacob?" Her fingertips found his face, brushing tears off in their wake.

"You're not the only one who misses them. Baird is . . ." And ordinarily he'd have been ashamed of the tears and the hiccup but Cassandra's own tears kept that at bay. "like my sister. And Flynn, well you know."

"What are we gonna do?" she sniffled.

"We fight the good fight for them. We're Librarians. We go on."

"I don't know if I can right now."

His hand found her cheek, brushing her tears away. "You don't have to right now. You can be sad, you can scream, you can cry. I'd love it if you'd at least eat. But I'm not gonna tell you what to do."

"What are you going to do?"

"What I have been doing. Workin'. Workin' out until I pass out. Anything to keep from seeing her eyes . . . ." His voice trembled, he hadn't wanted to be so honest with her. But if it helped her to know she wasn't alone, he'd do it.

"Jacob . . . "his name was said on a whisper and before he knew it, they were both crying again. Until they weren't.

He wasn't sure how it happened but they'd been sitting so close together, his hand still cradling her face. And their lips met. It was a gentle tearful kiss, just brushing of lips. But then they broke apart and Cassandra leaned in again. They were sweet kisses, meant to offer comfort. Reassurances that they were not alone, that they had each other.

But after tears had eased and they really should have stopped, they kept kissing. Cassandra was now kneeling on the bench in front of him, his hands wrapped around her waist, her hands buried in his hair. The kisses were increasing in passion, both of them seeking to feel something other than sadness. In the back of his mind, Stone knew he needed to stop, that this was a bad idea. But he really couldn't bring himself to actually do it. Not when her lips on his felt so right and the feel of her in his arms was like coming home.

Her hands had slid from his hair onto his chest and he felt his shirt buttons being undone. This was the perfect time to stop her, but instead he pulled her closer and taking a breath attached his mouth to her neck.

She let out a breathy gasp and threw her head back, allowing him more access. He pushed the cardigan off her shoulders and had almost pushed her dress down too when his phone started ringing.

He tried to ignore it, pulling Cassandra's lips back to his but for some reason, the phone refused to go to voice mail. It kept ringing and Stone knew that it was only one person in the world.

He gave Cassandra one last kiss and moved across to the table where he'd left his phone next to the long forgotten tray.

"Hello, Jenkins?"

"Ah, Mr. Stone. You asked me to give you some work. I was hoping you could do an inventory of a few more rooms for me."

Jacob looked over at Cassandra, her lips swollen from his kisses, her cheeks pink from realizing what had almost happened. She began to adjust her clothes and he knew the moment was over.

"Sure, I'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Thank you, Mr. Stone."

"Mr. Jenkins needs you?" she asked as he hung up.

"Yeah, Cassie . . . ."

"It's alright, we were both upset. It was the heat of the moment."

"That's not . . . ." Stone sighed heavily. He needed to tell her that it was more than that. Sure, it went too far because of the moment. But he didn't regret kissing her. "I don't . . . ."

"Jacob, please. I'm . . .not right now."

He nodded. She was overwhelmed and grieving. She couldn't process what just happened and what it meant for them right now. He crossed the room and gently kissed her forehead.

"Alright. But, Cassandra?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you please eat? For me?"

She nodded and he released her and left to go see Jenkins. He didn't see her again until late the next day when Baird and Flynn came back to them.

* * *

After the initial reunion, Flynn and Baird had gone off to shower and change into 21st century clothing. Jones had offered to go pick up take out since after all, neither had eaten in four hundred years. Flynn had laughed and requested Thai. Stone had run out to the liquor store to stock up on beverages.

Everyone including Jenkins (who was quite fond of Thai food) was having a great time, enjoying food and listening to Eve and Flynn's tales of the brief time they'd spent conscious in the past. That's when Stone noticed that their resident redhead had slipped out of the room.

Flynn and Baird were engrossed in each other. Jones and Jenkins were engrossed in the food. So Jacob took the opportunity to go see what had happened to Cassandra.

He had a feeling that he knew and his hunch was proven right when he found her curled up in that same window nook. The picture in the window now held a tranquil ocean view. This time Cassandra's stare was dreamy and not tragic.

He cleared his throat and she looked up at him and smiled.

"You found them," she said softly.

"Well, I think any of us would have found them eventually," Jacob shrugged. "I guess it was good timing that I was lookin' for something to do and Jenkins sent me to that wing. Or who knows around here? Could have been the Library hintin'."

"All this time," Cassandra laughed softly. "They were here in the building. And we suffered, worrying."

Jacob shook his head and sat down next to her. "It don't matter now. They're back with us and that's all that matters."

They shared a smile and sat in silence for several moments. Then Cassandra's voice broke the silence, with a tone of musing. "Last night you reminded me that they had each other. And they did. If you hadn't stumbled on that door or something had happened in the years between, they still would have had each other. Locked in an embrace for an eternity."

"Not actually that bad of a thing if you think of it that way," Jacob grinned.

"No, rather beautiful actually." Cassandra chanced a glance at him, "Jacob, about last night . . . ."

"I don't regret it," Jacob's voice was urgent. "We might have gone too far, but I have no regrets about kissin' you."

"So it wasn't all about comfort?"

"It was and it wasn't. But I'm not sure how to explain or convince you that it wasn't just the heat of the moment. At least not for me. You weren't ready last night . . . ."

Jacob's words were cut off by Cassandra's lips on his. This time the kiss wasn't seeking comfort or misguided passion. He'd almost call it scientific but he certainly wasn't complaining about the way she was exploring him.

"Testing a theory?" he asked when they'd parted.

She nodded, giggling.

"What's the verdict?"

She locked her arms around his neck, grinning at him. "I need a whole lot more data to be sure, but I think I really like kissing you."

He put his hands around her waist and tugged her onto his lap. "I'm more than willing to supply you with more data."

They spent a long while exploring each other through kisses and gentle touches, until worn out by the emotional upheaval of the past week, they both dozed off in each other's arms against the window. They woke a few hours later, when Stone's phone rang. It was Baird calling them in for a team meeting. Stone promised to find Cassandra, who had left her phone behind during the party.

He kissed the side of her head. "Duty calls, sweetheart."

"I would like to explore this further sometime," she said with a sleepy smile.

"Any time you want to, I'm more than happy to collect more data." He winked at her and then helped her off his lap.

As they headed off, he figured he could hold her hand for a little while before they encountered the others.

Cassandra leaned into him as they left the room, "Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you really let Ezekiel steal your wallet?"

Stone's laughter was her only answer as they headed toward the Annex.

The End


End file.
